Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has ordered an emergency redeployment of the country's nuclear arsenal to at least six new secret locations, a major U.S. newspaper reported Sunday.
Quoting senior Pakistani officials, the Washington Post said Musharraf has also reorganized military oversight of the nuclear weapons in the weeks since Pakistan joined the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism.
Pakistan's military began relocating critical nuclear weapon components within two days of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, out of concern over possible strikes against the country's nuclear facilities, the daily quoted military officials as saying.
The officials added the transfer was intended to remove the weapons from air bases and corridors that might be used by the U.S.-led forces in an attack on Afghanistan.
The newspaper said Musharraf created a new Strategic Planning Division within the nuclear program, headed by a three-star general, as part of a reassignment of top military and intelligence leaders just hours before the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan began on Oct. 7.
The move was designed to sideline officers considered too sympathetic to the Taliban or other extremist religious factions, officials were quoted as saying.
Musharraf's actions were part of an effort to tighten security of the country's nuclear program in the face of widespread concerns that nuclear devises or fissile material could be vulnerable to attack or theft, the daily said.
Quoting officials, the report also said the president intended to keep control of the nuclear program out of the hands of religious hard-liners in the military if he is assassinated or ousted from power.